Shortlisted, Ottawa Book Awards

In this highly anticipated and deeply moving debut, Chuqiao Yang explores family, culture, diaspora, and the selfâ s tectonic shifts over time. Yangâ s poems journey restlessly through recollections of a Saskatchewan childhood, trips to visit family in Taiyuan, and a sojourn across the American South in search of the moments and places where one became a stranger to oneself. â You are a mouse in the backcountry of your memories,â writes Yang, â You are a fox in winter, devouring well-meaning friends.â Irreverent, fierce, and ceaselessly surprising, The Last to the Party marks the arrival of a unique voice and an unsparing poetic vision.